TundraTalk: Marty's trip to the Mansion and BNL Live in Edmonton...

AS has been discussed in length here in TundraTalk. One of our own has made good and was recently invited to man heaven. No not an all you can eat steak and beer sports bar, but the frackin' Playboy Mansion. Yup, that Playboy mansion.

It was for a party for the show the Apprentice LA. Marty does work for the show and, well, I will just let him tell the story...Take it away Marty...

I got invited to The Playboy Mansion as part of the kickoff party for The Apprentice LA.. I've been attached to that show as an advisor and marketing and publicity director since it started and it's usually a pretty easy job. You help with casting calls and you organize press coverage and interviews with Trump - who for the most part is pretty easy to deal with. You just have to be ready to roll when he shows up. He's a business man and he understands the need for promotion and while it gets tedious at times, he gets why it needs to be done and he behaves himself for as long as he can. I know his personal publicist, Jim Dowd very well as we kind of started at NBC at the same time and he quit last year to be Trump's main guy - which is fun because I get to hear all the real crap that is going on and not just the People magazine version. So - Trump and Hef are buddies and Trump decides for his LA show that one of the "rewards" for the winning team is going to be dinner and a night of fun at the Playboy mansion. So - they shot it this summer and they decided that when that episode was coming up they were going to have a little press party at the mansion. Being a good pal, Jim sends me an invitation to the party and I politely accepted - basically because I know I'll never get invited again.

So - you don't go directly to the mansion - you go to a parking structure that they have rented at Century City which is right outside of Beverly Hills on Wilshire and Santa Monica. Then they have the "Bunny Busses" pick you up - basically a small version of a coach bus painted black with a little Playboy bunny on the side.

I realized as we pulled into the driveway why they were so small - I don't think you could get anything larger up that driveway - it basically looks like one of those English country castles only a little bit smaller..

You pull under the archway and get out into the "backyard" area of the mansion where they had a "big top" style tent set up around the pool and grotto area.

Drinks were immediately shoved into my hand as I was greeted by several bunnies and some playmates - much nicer than Wal-mart.

The place was already hopping with Adam Carolla doing his radio show right from the party. Adam had Danny Bonaduce from The Partridge Family and David Alan Grier from In Living Color on his show that night - and Hef and Trump came up and took their turn at the mic as well.

Apparently some of the guys who had been there before were complaining that "those damn NBC execs" had made the girls cover up... I didn't realize what they meant until I found the Miller Lite girls who were "topless" but had "shirts" painted on.. The overall effect was still positive.

Then as I was just starting to feel at home, I was having my picture taken with "the Green Bunny" and she offered to take me and a couple of other people on a tour of the grounds...

Clearly - "No" wasn't an option and she took us through the aviary filled with exotic birds then on to the Tennis courts and over to the "game room". The game room has everything that you could want to play - poker table, darts, pinball, air hockey, juke box, video games on a big screen plasma - I mean everything. But I remarked to one of the guys that the pool table seemed a little "common" for the mansion - to which he remarked that perhaps as pool was only played on it occasionally and it was probably used for other things - it didn't pay to have a really nice one. Point well taken.

Then we were off to another area of the grounds where he keeps all the monkeys and other exotic animals.. I never realized that he had such a menagerie there, but I guess chicks dig that kind of thing. We didn't get to go inside, but she did walk us by the front of the mansion where the "man room" was.. Big leather chairs, a full cigar collection in a walk-in humidor and every issue of Playboy ever made on the massive book racks.

After that - she took us around back and showed us "her favorite place" - the Grotto... Now - the Grotto is like a good sized cave with some strategically placed cushions and candles and mood lighting everywhere.. water is about waist-deep and if those faux-rock walls could talk - I bet they would be blushing.. The whole thing is filled with some of the nicest audio equipment known to man and the sound of gently lapping waves tempered with some of the strongest pool chemicals in the world make it the perfect place for some extra-curricular activity.

When the time came to go - I was saddened that the night had gone by so fast - Hef only stayed for about a half-hour and then I'm sure it was time for Geritol and to bed with his three blonde bombshell girlfriends. Hell - I'd go to be early too. As I was boarding the bus, I took one last look around at the house - the finely manicured lawn and the finely manicured and scantily clad playmates and decided - He's got a pretty nice little place here..

Enjoy the pictures - I'm still having trouble getting that grin off my face..

Marty

Marty, thanks for the story and the pictures. You are really making yourself a great case for 'Common Guy Makes Good' guy of the year.

BNL Wide

Nice seats, Eh buddy?

We went to see the Barenaked Ladies, which we had to explain to McKenna that they were neither ladies or naked. She still does not understand it. Kids, oh well. Either way Blair Stefishin, of the Edmonton Stefishin's, put out a SOS that he needed to sell two duckets to the show and we had the evening off so we decided to partake of the Ladies, who again were not naked. The seats were great and the sound was by far the best sound I have heard at Rexall Place. Hands down.

I have a set of ear plugs. That's right I have a molded set of plugs that the Davis', of the Regina Davis', gave me for Christmas. I know, I suck. I have begun to see, or hear, recently the problems of going to as many shows as I have in my life on my ears. Donna sometimes thinks that I have selective hearing, but it is not true, my ears are not what they used to be. By the way, the earplugs are Packers Green and Gold, of course. I can't even begin to guesstimate how many concerts I have been to in my life. I do know that I have been to a lot of them and have placed myself a bit too close to the speakers and come home with ringing ears for about two days.

Anyway, I digress. As I was saying the sound was amazing. Just the right level and it their voices were crystal clear. Especially for being in a hockey rink.

Another cool thing that BNL is doing is the Barnaked Live on a Stick. What the hell is that you may ask? Well, it is what every band in the world should do, at least the ones that do not lip synch. They sell you a copy of the concert you just attended on a USB stick after the show.

You drop your 25 bones at the concession stand, they give you a bracelet similar to a beer garden one, and then after the show you wait about 15 minutes and they bring out a butt load of these reusable USB sticks with the whole show on it. Sweet.

I personally would rather have one of these than a t-shirt that will not fit after one wash or any of the other crap they sell at the stand. Really, think about it. It is smart business. It stops the bootleggers, it makes them more money, and the fans get a real memory from the show. I think about all the shows that I have been to and how great it would be to have a record of those shows to just drop in and listen to whenever I want. Awesome.

Well I also recorded a bit of the show on Donna's camera. Here they are for you to enjoy. Brian Wilson is first and Million Dollars is second.

Have a good week.